Hailing from Dayton, Ohio, Mitchell Ballester joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra bass section in January 2023. Mitchell teaches for the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra program through the Indianapolis Symphony, and has served on the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Players Association Orchestra Committee, 403b Committee, Media Committee, and Outreach Committee.

Mitchell studied under Mr. Jeffrey Turner at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He graduated in December 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance. To attend IU, he was awarded the Jacobs Scholar Award, through the Barbara and David Jacobs Scholarship. During his studies, he was a member of the Hutton Honors College and served as Vice President of IU Double Bass club. His former teachers include Mrs. Debbie Taylor and Mr. Matthew Holt.

From 2021-2022, Mitchell was a section member and acting assistant principal of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. He has also performed with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, and Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, as winner of the David L. Pierson’s Young Person’s Concerto Competition, he performed the Bottesini Concerto No. 2 with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Mitchell has also performed with the Luzerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute and Festival, and performed tours of Asia and Europe with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America.

Mitchell plays on an instrument formerly owned by a long-term member of the Nashville Symphony; it is inferred to be an early 19th century Italian bass.